Whether it's a small paper company in Pennsylvania or a medium-sized software provider based out of Texas, many businesses can benefit from having the appearance of a large corporation. Customers tend to have better experiences when they perceive the company they are working with to be big and extremely well organized. With VoIP, small businesses can achieve this same appearance though they only have a staff of 20.

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) can give subscribers access to a few features that will make their business appear larger to customers. It might even be 10 employees working from home, but the company can feel like a business that deals in a large amount of inbound calls and has a lot of locations and departments. That way, consumers will see the business as a reliable and trusted brand, and will be more likely to buy from them.

Many VoIP providers offer the option for businesses to choose their own, virtual number with any area code. It doesn’t matter where the business is located, virtual numbers are available for any US area code.

If the company is based in California, but sells most of their products in Florida, they can purchase a local number for customers to call. With a local virtual number, the business can cut down or eliminate customer long distance fees.

Or, if they wanted to further increase that big business feel, a company could purchase virtual numbers across the US, to give the sense they are both local and national.That would give consumers the impression they are working with a business with a large reach, even if the business only has one location.

For small businesses, appearing both local and national can be a strategic advantage. By purchasing several numbers with area codes based across the US, a small business can give consumers the impression they are nationwide.

That way, consumers will assume the company deals with a high volume of business, and provides services or products in major cities and states in a widely distributed geographic area. When choosing a business for services, oftentimes it’s important to go with a brand that feels nationwide, like it won’t disappear within a year.

At the same time, when a consumer wants to choose a business that is local and not a nationwide brand, these numbers suit that need as well. A consumer living in Boston, for example, might not want to seek out a Texas-based business, but with a virtual number with a Boston area code the business in Texas can appear local. It's the best of both worlds: a nationwide presence to establish a company's importance, and an in-state presence to increase visibility among local consumers.

Even if the business is, in fact, 10 employees working from home, a business VoIP service's auto attendant routes calls to all employees. The caller will get the impression there are dozens of extensions to choose from, and employees to reach, even if there are not. Moreover they will feel comfortable calling in the future, knowing that their call will always reach the right destination.

VoIP keeps employees connected. Even if they are constantly travelling, or based in different states, they can remain connected with VoIP. And there’s no need for a central location, the employees can reach each other for voice and IP video calling. In essence, a company can eliminate the need for an office but still keep intra-office communication a priority.

If a business wants to take employee communication a step further, they could create call groups based on specific hunt groups within the company, like sales or accounting. With a grouping feature, any call to a specific “department” is routed by the auto attendant to all of the associated extensions.

This decreases the amount of missed calls, and gives the impression the business is more complex than it is. Even if many employees double up on duties, the fact that they are associated with different groups can make the business appear larger. And more importantly, call groups ensure inbound calls are routed to the right department